As Zambia’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the Tech­nical Com­mittee on Regional Eco­nomic Com­mu­ni­ties, he ended a quar­rel­some debate over a pro­posal to estab­lish a uni­form African cur­rency before it divided the group. The com­mittee chair—a fellow student—responded by rewarding him with the team’s lone lead­er­ship award.

“I motioned to use the amend­ment to alter the lan­guage of the pro­posal, thus resolving the biggest point of con­tention,” said Bokanga, a third-​​yearinter­na­tional affairs major from Nairobi, Kenya. “The com­mittee chair most likely con­sid­ered it the first dis­play of lead­er­ship in the room and gave me the credit.”

Bokanga was one of five North­eastern students—and one of hun­dreds of under­grad­u­ates from more than 40 of the nation’s col­leges and universities—who par­tic­i­pated in the four-​​day event. At the con­fer­ence, each stu­dent team rep­re­sented a pre-​​assigned member state of the African Union, which was estab­lished in 2002. The pro­ceed­ings mir­rored those of the AU, with stu­dents sit­ting on com­mit­tees and dis­cussing, debating, and writing res­o­lu­tions on today’s most pressing issues in Africa.

The North­eastern stu­dents spent seven weeks preparing for the con­fer­ence in a spring semester course taught by Kwamina Pan­ford, an asso­ciate pro­fessor of African Amer­ican Studies in the Col­lege of Social Sci­ences and Human­i­ties. It was not uncommon for them to spend sev­eral hours per week reading policy state­ments, con­ducting inter­views, and doing inde­pen­dent research on topics ranging from energy and eco­nomic devel­op­ment to democ­racy and polit­ical crises in places like Mali, Somalia, and the South Sudan.

The lessons learned in class and at the con­fer­ence fell into two cat­e­gories: the per­sonal and the polit­ical. “Stu­dents learn a lot about them­selves, team work, and how they per­ceive Africa,” said Pan­ford, an African cit­izen from Ghana. “They also learn how con­straining pol­i­tics, diplo­macy, inter­na­tional rela­tions, and gov­erning coun­tries can be.”

Abi­gail Oyeniran, BHS’17, rep­re­sented Zambia on the exec­u­tive council. She noted that her expe­ri­ence rein­forced her desire to be part of Africa’s ascent to global promi­nence, saying, “I am very pas­sionate about Africa and want to see it reach its poten­tial.” As a case in point, the third-​​year phys­ical therapymajor hopes to work on co-​​op at a health clinic or hos­pital in Nigeria, her family’s home country.

“The Model AU is not only about building resumes,” she said. “It is also about cre­ating real change in the lives of those who need it the most. Although this requires much prepa­ra­tion and unwa­vering ded­i­ca­tion, I plan to do more of this in the future.”

Added Bokanga: “It’s impor­tant that people start thinking about Africa as more than a poor place with civil wars. There is far more to it than that.”

About the Writer

Jason Kornwitz, AS' 08, has called Northeastern home since 2003. In his spare time, he enjoys playing sports, watching pretentious movies, and cooking kingly breakfasts. Follow him on Twitter @jasonkornwitz.

News@Northeastern is Northeastern University’s primary source of news and information. Whether it happens in the classroom, in a laboratory, or on another continent, we bring you timely stories about every aspect of life, learning and discovery at Northeastern. Contact the news team